Tent Life in Siberia | Page 2

most rugged passes of the

north Asiatic mountains; they floated in skin canoes down the great
rivers of the north; slept in the smoky pologs of the Siberian Chukchis
(chook'-chees); and camped out upon desolate northern plains in
temperatures of 50° and 60° below zero. The poles which they erected
and the houses which they built now stand alone in an encircling
wilderness,--the only results of their three years' labour and suffering,
and the only monuments of an abandoned enterprise.
It is not my purpose to write a history of the Russian-American
telegraph. The success of its rival, the Atlantic cable, has completely
overshadowed its early importance, and its own failure has deprived it
of all its interest for American readers. Though its history, however, be
unimportant, the surveys and explorations which were planned and
executed under its auspices have a value and an interest of their own,
aside from the object for which they were undertaken. The territory
which they covered is little known to the reading world, and its
nomadic inhabitants have been rarely visited by civilised man. Only a
few adventurous traders and fur-hunters have ever penetrated its almost
unbroken solitudes, and it is not probable that civilised men will ever
follow in their steps. The country holds out to the ordinary traveller no
inducement commensurate with the risk and hardship which its
exploration involves.
Two of the employees of the Russian-American Telegraph Company,
Messrs. Whymper and Dall, have already published accounts of their
travels in various parts of British Columbia and Alaska; and believing
that a history of the Company's explorations on the other side of Bering
Strait will possess equal interest, I have written the following narrative
of two years' life in north-eastern Siberia. It makes no pretensions
whatever to fulness of scientific information, nor to any very
extraordinary researches of any kind. It is intended simply to convey as
clear and accurate an idea as possible of the inhabitants, scenery,
customs, and general external features of a new and comparatively
unknown country. It is essentially a personal narrative of life in Siberia
and Kamchatka; and its claim to attention lies rather in the freshness of
the subject, than in any special devotion to science or skill of treatment.

[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]

CONTENTS
PREFACE

CHAPTER I
THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF
THE FIRST SIBERIAN EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN
FRANCISCO

CHAPTER II
CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A
RUSSIAN BRIG

CHAPTER III
THE PICTURESQUE COAST OF KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN
PETROPAVLOVSK

CHAPTER IV
THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND
FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE OF TWO SAINTS

CHAPTER V
FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF
EXPLORATION--DIVISION OF PARTY

CHAPTER VI
A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OF KAMCHATKA

CHAPTER VII
STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY,
VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE

CHAPTER VIII
BRIDLE PATHS OF SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND
FOOD OF THE PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND
WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S CANTICLE

CHAPTER IX
THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF
LITERATURE--SCARING UP A BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK
RIDE

CHAPTER X
THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE
RAFT--RECEPTION AT MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR

CHAPTER XI
ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A
QUESTION OF ROUTE--A RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"

CHAPTER XII
CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC
CONVERSATION--"O SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A
DIFFICULT ASCENT

CHAPTER XIII
A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN
DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR HUNT--BREAKNECK
RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA

CHAPTER XIV
OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST
IN SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE

CHAPTER XV
CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE
WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO DAYS WITH FOOD--RETURN TO
LESNOI

CHAPTER XVI
KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER
OF PEOPLE--
SALMON-FISHING--SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL
LANGUAGE--NATIVE MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER DRESS

CHAPTER XVII
A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNS ON A
KORAK ENCAMPMENT-- NOMADS AND THEIR
TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK BREAD

CHAPTER XVIII
WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR
INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF THE
REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF
THE BRASS-HANDLED SWORD."

CHAPTER XIX
THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN
INTOXICATING FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE

CHAPTER XX
THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF
TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING OF OLD

AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER

CHAPTER XXI
FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS--HOUR-GLASS
YURTS--CLIMBING DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT
INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY
"PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS

CHAPTER XXII
FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED
PROFANITY--A RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT
GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR
THE WINTER

CHAPTER XXIII
DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT
A HOWLING CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS

CHAPTER XXIV
DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK
COURIER--AMERICANS ON THE ANADYR--ARCTIC
FIREWOOD--A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD--LOST ON THE STEPPE

CHAPTER XXV

PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE
BELOW ZERO--TALKED OUT--ASTRONOMICAL
LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST

CHAPTER XXVI
ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE
CLIMATE--CHRISTMAS SERVICES AND CAROLS--A SIBERIAN
BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED
DANCING--HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS

CHAPTER XXVII
NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS
RELIEF--THE STORY OF A STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE
SEACOAST

CHAPTER XXVIII
A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDEWATER--A
NIGHT SEARCH FOR A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A
VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE ANADYR PARTY